Lever assist for a transport dolly

ABSTRACT

The lever assist device which is attached to the axle of a transport dolly has a foot pedal which is spring biased to a first, vertical inactive position, may be engaged by the foot of a user to reduce the draw force required to rotate the loaded dolly onto its wheels for displacement.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to the field of storage racks. Moreparticularly, the present invention is directed to a lever assist devicewhich permits generally anyone to manipulate a dolly loaded with astorage rack into position to move regardless of the size of the load.

Racks have been developed to store, ship, and support heavy loads suchas outboard motors for boats, and the like, which have the capability ofbeing wheeled from place to place. One significant drawback of theseracks is the problem of overcoming the inertia: tipping the loaded rackonto its wheels so that the rack and its load can be moved from place toplace.

It is among the objects of the present invention to permit even adiminutive person (120 lb) with average strength to manipulate thestorage rack using the lever assist into its tipped movable position,thereby enabling them to wheel the loaded cart from place to place.

The lever assist device of the present invention for enabling tilting ofa transport dolly, supporting a particular load weight thereby requiringa particular draw force, to the ready position, includes a) a base plateassembly for securement to an axle of the transport dolly; b) a tiltplate securely affixed to a portion of the base plate; c) a lever armpivotally secured to the base plate assembly and having a first endportion overlapping the tilt plate, a second end with a foot pedal; d)attachment means for securing the base plate assembly to the axle of thetransport dolly; whereby the foot pedal may be engaged by a foot of theuser to pivot the lever arm downwardly into contact with the tilt plateenabling rotation of the tilt plate and the transport dolly attachedthereto about the axle of the transport dolly with a significantlyreduced level of draw force for the specific load weight. An axle pin isattached to the base plate assembly, the lever arm being pivotallysecured to the base plate assembly by means of the axle pin. Springmeans is associated with the axle pin to bias the lever arm to a firstnon-operative position. Preferably, the spring means comprises a pair ofcoil springs wrapped around the axle pin operative between the tiltplate and the lever arm to bias the lever arm into the firstnon-operative position. The foot pedal is formed on the second end ofthe lever arm which is bent at a 45° relative to a remaining portion ofthe lever arm and engagable by the foot of the user to overcome the biasof the coil springs to bring the first end portion overlapping the tiltplate into contact with the tilt plate to allow application of a levelof force up to the full weight of the user to assist in rotating thetransport dolly about its axle to enable movement of the dolly and itsload. Means to attach the base plate to the axle of the transport dollyincludes two pair of aligned holes in the base plate assembly, two holesin the axle, and a pair of cotter pins which extend through the alignedholes on either side of the holes in the axle. The preferred version ofthe transport dolly features a pair of aligned axle shafts upon whichwheels may alternatively be mounted. The more forward axle position isutilized when the center of gravity of the motor is rotated forward forallowing work to be performed thereon.

Various other features, advantages, and characteristics of the presentinvention will become apparent after a reading of the following detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiment(s) of the present invention is/are described inconjunction with the associated drawings in which like features areindicated with like reference numerals and in which

FIG. 1 is a side view of a first embodiment of the lever assist deviceof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the first embodiment shown mounted on atransport dolly;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the first embodiment shown mounted on thetransport dolly;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the first embodiment shown mounted on thetransport dolly with portions removed for clarity; and,

FIG. 6 is a side schematic of the first embodiment shown being used witha loaded storage rack.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

A first embodiment of the lever assist device of the present inventionis depicted in FIGS. 1-6 generally at 20. Lever assist device 20comprises base plate assembly 30, a tilt plate 40 secured to base plateassembly 30 as by welding, and lever arm 50 pivotally mounted on baseplate 30. Base plate assembly 30 is secured to the axles 13, 15 of thetransport dolly 11 by cotter pins 60 (FIG. 5) which extend throughaligned holes 32, 34 in base plate assembly 30 (FIG. 1) which arepositioned on either side of axles 13, 15 (FIG. 3) having aligned holesthrough which cotter pins 60 extend.

Tilt plate 40 has a proximate end 42 which is welded to base plateassembly 30 and a distal end portion 44 which is bent at an angle αwhich is preferably 45° from the plane of proximate end 42. Lever arm 50is mounted in such a way that first proximate end portion 52 overlapsdistal end portion 44 of tilt plate 40. A section of second end portion54 of lever arm 50 is bent at an angle β of 45° relative to theremaining portion 56 of lever arm 50 forming foot pedal 58. As a resultof α and β being equal, when a force F₁ is administered by a user tofoot pedal 58 (FIG. 6), foot pedal 58 will be in a horizontallyextending position when first proximate end portion 52 comes in contactwith distal end portion 44 of tilt plate 40. Thus a vertical force F₁,in conjunction with a sufficient horizontal draw force F₂ will cause thetipping of the transport dolly 11 and its load 17. The purpose of leverassist device 20 is to reduce the level of horizontal draw force F₂ thatis required to rotate the dolly 11 and its load 17 onto wheels 19 a, 19b (FIGS. 4, 5) for transport.

Axle pin 70 is attached to base plate 30 (in actuality, wedged betweenvertical surface 31 of base plate 30 and tilt plate 40 and spot weldedto both) and has spring means in the form of first and second coilsprings 72, 74 wrapped there around (FIG. 2) and with first arms 71 a,71 b interacting with tilt plate 40 and second arms 73 a, 73 b extendingthrough slots 55 in lever arm 50 engaging a rear surface 57 thereof tobias lever arm 50 to a first non-operative position (FIG. 1).

Transport dolly 11 has a latching arm 12 with a first locked position12A securing dolly 11 in storage rack 80 and a release position 12B(FIG. 3). When loaded with outboard motors 14, storage racks 80 may berepositioned longitudinally and stacked as many as 3 high for shipping.Upon arrival, the transport dolly 11 may be dislodged from the storagerack 80 by swinging latching arm 12 to its release position. By removingcotter pins 60 (FIG. 4) wheels 19 a, 19 b can be moved to the secondaxle position 15 which provides greater stability for the dolly 11 whenthe motor 14 is rotated about a horizontal axis to provide access to thelower end 16 of the unit.

Table I reflects the capabilities of lever assist assembly 20 inaccomplishing its objective of facilitating rotating dolly 11 and itsload 14 onto wheels 19 a, 19 b for transit. As shown therein, a 120 lb.person is capable of rotating dolly 11 and its load (which may weigh asmuch as 350 lb.) 14, if s/he is able to exert a force of 60 lbf draw F₂by standing on foot pedal 58. If the user is able to exert 165 lbf F₁(i.e., if s/he weighs at least that much), the draw force F₂ required totilt the load is reduced to 50 lbf. Finally, if the user is able toexert a downward force of 175 lbf, the draw force F₂ is reduced to 45lbf. Further, the draw angle δ is reduced from 2.5° to less than 1°.This simply means that the maximum force F₂ required is at the point ofinitialization of movement (when the user expects it and is ready tohandle it) rather than part way into load engagement where it couldcatch her/him off guard.

Various changes, alternatives, and modifications will become apparent toa person of ordinary skill in the art after a reading of the foregoingspecification. It is intended that all such changes, alternatives, andmodifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims beconsidered part of the present invention.

TABLE I Downward Draw Force Angle δ of Force F₁ (lbf) F₂ (lbf) Max. F₂ 095 2.5° 120 60 0.7° 165 50 0.4° 175 45 0.1°

1. A lever assist device for a transport dolly having handles requiringa specific draw force for a specific load weight, said devicecomprising: a) a base plate assembly for securement to an axle of thetransport dolly; b) a tilt plate securely affixed to a portion of saidbase plate; c) a lever arm pivotally secured to said base plate assemblyand having a first end portion overlapping said tilt plate, and a secondend portion with a foot pedal; d) attachment means for securing saidbase plate assembly to the axle of the transport dolly; e) an axle pinattached to said base plate assembly, said lever arm being pivotallysecured to said base plate assembly by means of said axle pin; wherebysaid foot pedal may be engaged by a foot of the user to pivot said leverarm downwardly into contact with said tilt plate enabling rotation ofsaid tilt plate and the transport dolly attached thereto about the axleof the transport dolly with a significantly reduced level of draw forcefor the specific load weight.
 2. The lever assist device of claim 1further comprising spring means associated with said axle pin to biassaid lever arm to a first non-operative position.
 3. The lever assistdevice of claim 2 wherein said spring means comprises a pair of coilsprings wrapped around said axle pin operative between said tilt plateand said lever arm to bias said lever arm into said first non-operativeposition.
 4. The lever assist device of claim 3 wherein said foot pedalcomprises said second end of said lever arm bent at a 45° relative to aremaining portion of said lever arm and engagable by the foot of theuser to overcome said bias of said coil springs to bring said first endportion overlapping said tilt plate into contact with said tilt plate toallow application of a level of force up to the full weight of the userto assist in rotating the transport dolly about its axle to enablemovement of the dolly and its load.
 5. The lever assist device of claim1 further comprising means to attach said base plate to the axle of thetransport dolly.
 6. The lever assist device of claim 5 wherein saidmeans to attach comprises two pair of aligned holes in said base plateassembly, two holes in the axle, and a pair of cotter pins which extendthrough said aligned holes on either side of the holes in the axle. 7.The lever assist device of claim 6 wherein the axle comprises a pair ofaligned axle shafts upon which wheels may alternatively be mounted.